Uber Eats driver says he waits in wealthy areas to make as much money as possible

A 22-year-old food delivery driver revealed to Insider, that he deliberate hangs around affluent neighbourhoods to try and make as much money as possible.

Jay is a 22-year-old based in Philadelphia who delivers food on his bike for DoorDash and Uber Eats as a “weekend side hustle”. He shares his delivery experience with his over 140,000 TikTok followers, but never shows his face.

Both DoorDash and Uber Eats include a base payments for drivers. These base payments depend partly on the distance of the delivery, occasional incentive fees to entice drivers, and any up-front tip the customer includes. Jay explains that the base pay is a large factor in how he decides which deliveries to take.

Jay’s base payment is on average between $2 and $2.50, although some could be as high as $4.50. When a delivery offer comes in as low as $2 or $2.50, it means that the customer did not tip up front, according to Jay.

It is possible to tip drivers after the order is delivered on both DoorDash and Uber Eats, but Jay told Insider that he was not interested in potentially wasting his time after delivering an order. Therefore, he mainly only accepts orders with the highest payments, and declines roughly 75 per cent of the order he receives.

“I’m not doing this to gamble. I’m doing this to make money,” he said. “So I’m not really interested in playing the game of, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll do this person’s delivery for a guaranteed $2.50. Maybe it might be more.’ I don’t play that game. And most people don’t like to play that game.”

Both DoorDash and Uber Eats drivers keep 100 per cent of their tips.

“I think people should be tipping for the premium service that they’re being provided,” he added.

The New York Times, reported last week that delivery drivers tips have decreased since the pandemic. And as inflation continues to influence people’s financial decisions, and may mean people cut back on delivery tips.

Alix Anfang, an Uber spokesperson, told Insider that tipping had increased since 2020.

“Food delivery has always had a high tipping rate, but the average tip on a delivery increased even further by about 20 per cent” Anfang said.

Speaking of waiting around in wealthier areas to get better tips, Jay shared “I’ll sit in Rittenhouse Square in the park, and I’ll get an order that’s from a fancy Italian restaurant. It’s a two-block delivery, and it ends up paying me $20 because this person doesn’t want to walk two blocks in the winter cold.”

Jay added that winter is when his pay increases because there are fewer driver to compete with, and many don’t want to go out into the adverse weather conditions.

Speaking to Insider, Jay said he planned to continue the gig work on the weekends.

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